D800E and Nikkor 24-120 4.0

All very good points, there's no right and wrong and thats the beauty of being different

slimandy
wrote:

Kristian Dowling
wrote:

Concentration on bokeh affects the way people shoot, made obvious by the endless pictures seen with little content and substance, but beautiful bokeh.

I know what you mean. I've seen shots from the 58mm NOCT that were shot wide open because you can and not because you should. That's not me though. I want nice bokeh because I don't want it to spoil the image.

Using long lenses may isolate and accentuate narrow apertures but the compression and perspective is somewhat detached from the subject. Personally I prefer to shoot no longer than 85mm, especially for portraits (excluding head shots). Long lenses tend to look voyeuristic and detached.

Each to their own. I have a Sigma 85mm f1.4 but I mainly want it for indoor use where I may have limited space and limited light. I prefer to go a bit longer if I can. 150mm is nice, even 180. In fact I've seen some great portraits from a 200mm f2 but I don't own one.

Also, sometimes I want to be detatched. I don't want the subject to interact with me in every shot.